New shuttle Atlantis exhibit gives close-up look at space flight

June 22, 2013|Reuters

* Atlantis goes on display at Kennedy Space Center inFlorida

* Exhibit opens June 29

* Shuttle positioned as if it were in space

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 22 (Reuters) - In deciding how toexhibit the space shuttle Atlantis, which goes on display nextweek, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida optedfor a perspective that would allow the public a rare view.

"One of the ideas that developed very early was to show theorbiter as only astronauts had seen it - in space," said BillMoore, chief operating officer with Delaware North CompaniesParks and Resorts, which operates the visitors center for NASAat Cape Canaveral.

The developers of the exhibit raised the 150,000-pound(68,000-kg) spaceship 30 feet (9 meters) into the air and tiltedit 43 degrees over on its left side, simulating the vehicle inflight.

The shuttle's 60-foot-long cargo bay doors were also opened,a gutsy move since the 2.5-ton panels were designed for theweightless environment of space, and a mock-up robotic arm wasadded - the real one could not support its weight in Earth'sgravity.

Then a viewing ramp was built to bring visitors almostwithin arm's reach of the ship that flew NASA's 135th and finalshuttle mission in 2011, closing a 30-year chapter in U.S. spacehistory.

"About half our country now is past the age of being aroundwhen we walked on the moon," Moore said. "We want to keep abalance between telling the history of how we got here andinspiring people for what the future of space is all about."

The shuttle is accompanied by a high-fidelity mockup of theHubble Space Telescope. The real telescope's 1990 launch, itsrepair three years later and four life-extending servicingmissions comprise one of the shuttle program's success stories.

Positioned throughout the 90,000-square-foot(8,361-square-meter) building housing Atlantis are interactiveexhibits, shuttle hardware, films and other displays thatinclude darker tales, including the shuttle's tortured 12-yeardevelopment program and the two ships lost in accidents thatclaimed 14 lives.

"You have to talk about all five shuttles, you can't talkabout just three," Moore said. "We don't hide behind thosefacts. We don't not talk about them."

Before arriving at the Atlantis exhibit, visitors are routedbeneath an eye-popping, full-size replica shuttle external fueltank and twin rocket boosters. The stack stretches 184 feet (56meters) into the sky.

SISTER SHIPS

Atlantis followed sister ships Discovery and Endeavour intoretirement. They, along with the prototype Enterprise, which wasused for atmospheric testing before the shuttle's 1981 debut,now draw huge crowds to their respective museums.

Discovery is at the Smithsonian National Air and SpaceMuseum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.; Endeavour is atthe California Science Center in Los Angeles; and Enterprise isat the Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum in New York.

All 135 shuttle missions were launched from the KennedySpace Center, which also housed and prepared the ships and theircargo for flight.

The new $100-million Atlantis facility is focused on threemain themes. The first is about the engineering and operation ofthe shuttle, a machine comprising more than 2.5 millionhand-made parts.

The second is about the thousands of people who worked onthe program over more than 30 years, while the last has to dowith the future, perhaps the most challenging part of theexhibit.

NASA is working on a new capsule and rocket to carryastronauts to destinations beyond the International SpaceStation, a permanently staffed, $100-billion research outpostthat flies about 250 miles (402 km) in space.

The station was pieced together by U.S. space shuttle crewsover more than a decade.

But where that rocket and capsule will go and when it willarrive is an ongoing debate. Meanwhile, NASA is hoping to buyrides for its space station crews from private industry by 2017.

The exhibit opens June 29. Ticket prices are $50 for adultsand $40 for children aged 3-11, plus tax.